Thaksin granted Nicaragua passport

BANGKOK: Thailand's fugitive former leader Thaksin Shinawatra now has a Nicaraguan passport, complicating efforts to extradite him as Thai authorities pressed ahead yesterday with a search for his supporters accused of leading violent riots in Bangkok.

The Nicaraguan government announced late on Wednesday it had named Thaksin a "Nicaraguan ambassador on a special mission" to bring investment to the Central American country and issued him a passport in January.

The announcement came just hours after the Thai government said it had revoked Thaksin's personal passport, accusing him of stoking the unrest that paralyzed the Thai capital earlier this week.

Ousted in a 2006 coup, Thaksin has been on the run since he fled Thailand ahead of a corruption conviction last year. He has been spotted in Central America, Africa, London, Dubai and Hong Kong among other places. He recently said that several countries had offered him passports but did not specify them.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said he could not confirm Thaksin's Nicaraguan passport but said authorities were trying to "make clear which other passports he is holding." He said he was not aware of any extradition treaty between Thailand and Nicaragua.

Thailand had already revoked Thaksin's diplomatic passport.

A state of emergency in Bangkok remained in place for a fifth day yesterday, but normalcy returned after the rioting earlier this week. Police were still searching for dozens of protest leaders, only three of whom were in custody.

Ex-leader in Dubai

Thaksin yesterday "humbly" urged the country's king to intervene to resolve its political rift, and called on his supporters to act peacefully.

He also said in an interview he lacked the resources to finance a political comeback, although he would return to Thailand if "the country and the people really need me ... I want to be part of the solution."

"I would humbly urge his majesty (to) come and help heal this rift," Thaksin said in Dubai.

Thaksin repeated accusations the government, not his followers, had instigated the violence. He claimed the "red shirt" protests had been infiltrated by troublemakers.

Reuters

(China Daily 04/17/2009 page11)